Beyonce Black Women's Lemonade

Updated on April 30, 2016

Lemonade

Beyonce's lemonade touched on so many deep issues. One of the situations the visual touched on was an excerpt from a Malcolm X Speech that appeared to apply so eloquently to the struggles of black women.

Lemonade – Malcolm X’s thoughts:

"The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman."

No truer words have ever been spoken. Decades later this notion still applies today. This excerpt inserted into the Lemonade video mental visual was a powerful statement. The line is from the Malcolm X speech giving in Los Angeles California in 1962. Along with this speech Malcolm asked powerful questions:

"Who taught you to hate the color of your skin?

Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair?

Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips?

Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?"

Changing Faces

Changing To Fit Societies Definition of Beauty

As a group of people let’s discuss the situation. This issue is on display for the world to see that an entire ethnic group is spinning out of control. While so much blame is given to the black woman for the condition of the black race, little empathy is given for the plight of the black woman. Let me first say love is love however if you refuse to see beauty or value in those that reflect your physical features there is a deeper issue at play. How can you tell me you value yourself when you find no value in others that mirror your features? Many will offer surface excuses as to why they happen to only date outside their race but it’s interesting that the majority of other races value marriage among themselves. The effects of the 4 questions Malcolm X asked play in my mind as we watch minorities of color change their features and pigmentation in an effect to reach some standard of beauty that is not unique to their race. *Who taught you to hate the color of your skin?" -Let me name 3 people that come to mind: Sammy Sosa, Lil Kim, and Nicki Minaj to name a few.

Physical features are praised in other races that are common to African American women. Rarely do I witness nose jobs that result in ethic features but a more European desired nose or features.

Words Given To The Pain-Lemonade-Beyonce

When You Don't Love Yourself -How Can You Value Others That Resemble You?

When you are taught to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet then why respect the women that mirror your ethnicity and features. Why seek to make their lives better, care/protect those women, or value them? Watch videos or movies, how many times are women of the same ethnicity seen as the woman of interest or even in the videos? Why be devoted to the families you create? Why choose to settle down with one woman and value the importance of your family over one night stands, side chicks, or increasing your number of baby mommas? Why is having the best: beautiful, bright, valuable woman never enough? Why focus more on working out at the gym and sexual exploits rather than reading/educating yourself and developing your career so you can have financial stability? Yes the deck is stacked against you but the culture has endured much worse and still rose to the top- it is within you if you are focused. While other middle and upper class groups of men are taught to build solid foundations for the families they plan to have –on a large scale- there is no planning to unite or respect black women in marriage before creating families let alone position oneself to provide for that child. Often sex without respect is the motto with the belief of being a player for life seems to the message that many men act out so frequently. Good parenting often means paying child support and spending every other weekend with your child. That is not enough influence with your child nor is that “quality time” with your child so who takes up for that slack? This situation destroys families and prevents progress and building WEALTH for future generations.

Lemonade gave a tribute to the trials of black women. Women that lost their love to side pieces, the pain of carrying these emotions that can almost destroy you, a tribute to women that decide to pick up the pieces after being betrayed by infidelity, an understanding of the pain of emotions that swirl in women’s heads. To capture the betrayal passed from generation to generation as the man one loves mirroring the magician qualities of one’s father was an amazing similarity to conjure. Women that silently bare the burdens of so much while trying not to breakdown. Mother of 3 working 2 jobs and going to school.

Center for American Progress –Race and Ethnicity provide the following statistics (2013)

Health

One in four African American women are uninsured.

Hypertension is more prevalent among African American women than any other group of women.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea infection rates for African American women are 19 times higher than those of white women.

African American women have higher rates of human papillomavirus, or HPV, and cervical cancer.

African American women represent 65 percent of new AIDS diagnoses among women.

African American women experience unintended pregnancies at three times the rate of white women.

Educational attainment

The college graduation rate of African American women for the 2004 cohort was 24.1 percent and has not increased at the same rate as the graduation rates of white women, Latinas, or Asian American women.

Only 21.4 percent of African American women had a college degree or higher in 2010, compared to 30 percent of white women.

According to Census data about work-life earnings, white women make more than African American women among full-time, year-round workers, regardless of what degrees they have obtained.

Entrepreneurship

African American-owned businesses are the fastest-growing segment of the women-owned business market and are starting up at a rate six times higher than the national average.

The number of companies started by African American women grew nearly 258 percent from 1997 to 2013.

Economic security

African American women continue to have higher rates of unemployment than white women and continue to have lower amounts of weekly usual earnings and median wealth compared to their male counterparts and white women.

The most current available data show that African American women only made 64 cents to the dollar compared to white, non-Hispanic men in 2010.

Married or cohabiting African American households have a median wealth of $31,500 while single African American women have a median wealth of only $100. African American women with children, however, have zero median wealth.

Among African American households, more than half—53.3 percent—of working wives were breadwinners.